Lee Bum-Ho (Korea, Hanwha Eagles) - Matt also
pointed out that if the already last-place Hanwha loses all these guys,
they might as well field a him of himself, me and Shinsano

Possible MLB Returnees...

Hideki Matsui (NY Yankees) – has been speculated over since the summer, seems like Matsui will get chances to stay in MLB

Masahide Kobayashi (ex Cleveland Indians) - makes sense, I wonder if they went after him during the season

Kenji Johjima (Seattle Mariners) - reports in the Japanese media say that he has an escape clause in his contract allowing him to return to Japan. Cot's
knows nothing about this. Hanshin is said to be prepared to offer 500m
yen annually (about $5m), so for this to work Joh would have to take a
pay cut, and the Mariners would have to not convince him to stay

Akinori Iwamura (Tampa Bay Rays) - saw some
speculation about this a week or two ago, Iwamura didn't say much other
than that he would go where he was evaluated the most highly

There are also reports that Hanshin is going to be looking to the US
market as usual, but I haven't seen any legitimate names published yet.
Hanshin sent team president Nobuo Minami to the States this season in
an effort to learn how to evaluate US-based players. In the process, he
had his picture taken with Bobby Cox, and met with the GMs of the Braves, Yankees, Mets, as well as front office personnel from the Red Sox.

What do NPB fans think? Would any of these moves make Hanshin the team to beat next year?